Pro-Palestine campus group behind Columbia University protests received over $3million a year in funding from 'charities' linked to Hamas

The group behind pro-Palestine student protests at Columbia received 'over $3 million a year' – and is linked to organizations accused of funding terrorist organization Hamas, a new think tank has revealed.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a campus group with more than 250 chapters across the country, is one of the main organizers of a protest that brought the Manhattan university to a standstill.

The new report by the think tank Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), reveals the group got millions from several charities with alleged links to Hamas.

The 73-page report, exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, also pointed out explicit pro-Hamas statements, chants and placards by protesters, and asserted that the demonstration has crossed the line from criticism of the Israeli government to bald-faced antisemitism.

The report also called for a law enforcement and government investigation into SJP.

'It's being presented as a peace movement, that there's Jews involved, that it's not anti-semitic. But when people chant 'globalize the intifada' it's very clear,' ISGAP executive director Dr. Charles Small told DailyMail.com.

'What Hamas represents, its ideology, is a commitment to dismantling Israel and exterminating Jews around the world.'

The student groups say they do not promote violence, are inclusive towards Jewish people, and are exercising a legal right to protest.

The ISGAP report asserts that SJP has become an effective and well-funded network for organizing protests around the country, but that its failure to register as a charity or formal organization left its funding sources and operations murky and unregulated.

Hints of financial backing could be seen at the Columbia 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment', including students erecting several identical high-end tents costing hundreds of dollars each, and handing out free Dunkin' Donuts coffee, $12.50 sandwiches from Pret-a-Manger and $10 rotisserie chickens to participants.

Small said his think tank, with 'a group of forensic accountants and experts in terror financing', have been working to follow the money funneled into protests.

What they found was a combined flow of more than $3 million a year going to campus chapters, coming from a constellation of charities, some of which have alleged links to Hamas.

The nonprofits funding SJP include the Westchester People's Action Coalition (WESPAC), Tides, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), its parent organization Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

The ISGAP report said SJP had the closest financial links with WESPAC, which acts as a 'financial sponsor' for the organization, routing tax-free donations through its accounts to SJP chapters.

The report pointed to small print on a donation page of the SJP website which states that the money 'goes to WESPAC Foundation Inc.'

New York-based WESPAC's IRS filings for the year to August 2023 list a total revenue of $2,379,650, with expenses of $1,362,449 for 'human rights and current affairs education and information provided to many hundreds of people through public meeting events, conferences and newsletters.'

The report said SJP also gets extensive organizational aid from American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a nonprofit under investigation by the Virginia attorney general and accused of being a reincarnation of a charity found liable for funding Hamas.

AMP’s attorney Christina Jump denied any wrongdoing or links to Hamas, but confirmed the charity gives grants of between $500 and $2,000 to pro-Palestine student groups including SJP and JVP, for ‘tangible expenses for specified events, such as food or copying costs for specifically identified gatherings’.

SJP founder and Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian also co-founded AMP.

Bazian previously fundraised for another nonprofit called Kindhearts, which had its assets frozen by the US Treasury in 2006 for giving money to Hamas. Bazian has frequently spoken at events for the now-defunct nonprofit the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which folded after it was found civilly liable in 2004 for its support of Hamas.

AMP’s attorney Christina Jump told DailyMail.com that Bazian ‘never held any leadership roles’ in charities held liable for funding Hamas, and that Kindhearts ‘committed no wrongdoing’.

Kindhearts reached a settlement with the Treasury Department in 2012 and had its funds returned.

Both AMP's former executive director, Abdelbaset Hamayel, and its current one, Osama Abuirshaid, were IAP board members or directors, according to a 2023 report by think tank the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Jump said Hamayel was an ‘office manager’ at IAP who ‘never made the decisions—he just made sure the decisions of others happened’. 

AMP's national board member Salah Sarsour was a fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation, a nonprofit that was designated a terror organization in 2001 for giving $12 million to Hamas over six years, the think tank report said.

AMP’s attorney said there was ‘no correlation’ between Sarsour’s work for the designated terror organization the Holy Land Foundation in 2001 and his membership of AMP’s board beginning in 2012. 

AMP has a 'National Campus Coordinator', Taher Herzallah, who referenced his work with SJP on his LinkedIn profile.

AMP's website says Herzallah is the 'liaison between campus activism groups on campuses across the country', who helps 'groups procure grants, materials and speakers' and is 'instrumental in helping students set up programs and activities.'

According to Jewish organization the Anti-Defamation League, Herzallah gave a speech at a 2014 conference in Chicago saying that 'Israelis have to be bombed, they are a threat to the legitimacy of Palestine, and it is wrong to maintain the State of Israel'.

He posted on Facebook the same year that 'Hamas' rockets are an oppressed people's audible cry for help' and commented on photos of injured Israeli soldiers and an Israeli tank on fire calling it 'the most beautiful site in my eyes'.

Dr. Small claimed that SJP founder Bazian also has deep involvement in another nonprofit that helped organize the Columbia protests: Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

JVP describes itself as 'largest Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world'.

Small told DailyMail.com that Bazian revealed he controls the JVP Twitter account when he accidentally tweeted CNN anchor Jake Tapper from his personal account rather than the JVP account.

'@JakeTapper your reporting on Rashida Tlaib's Nakba 75 event was racist and anti-Palestinian. As Jews who believe in human rights and justice, we demand you do better,' Bazian, who is not Jewish, wrote from his personal account on May 11 last year.

Speaking on Bazian’s behalf, Jump denied he controlled JVP’s Twitter account. 

JVP's most recent IRS filings for 2022 show it received $3,959,130 in revenue, and spent $2,610,183 – including $1,851,974 on salaries. It is sitting on net assets of almost $3.2 million.

Bazian, a lecturer in the department of ethnic studies at Berkeley, has a history of getting into trouble on social media.

In 2017, the Berkeley lecturer shared an image of an Orthodox Jewish man smiling and raising his arms above the caption: 'I can now kill, rape, smuggle organs & steal the land of Palestinians.'

Bazian apologized for the tweet when questioned by a Jewish newspaper.

Small told DailyMail.com that he believed the pro-Hamas history of some of SJP's backers has bled into the current demonstrations.

The ISGAP report pointed to 'the rhetoric of [National SJP] shifting from one of calling for a ceasefire, to the violence and destruction of Israeli cities and people.'

In the days after the October 7 deadly terror attacks by Hamas, SJP national leaders released a 'Day of Resistance Toolkit' which encouraged 'not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with oppressors' in Israel.

One SJP chapter at New York university Bard even published statements with images of paragliders similar to those used by Hamas terrorists on October 7, saying 'Liberation is a material process that requires confrontation by any means necessary.'

According to a report by the Anti-Defamation League, at an April 17 rally at Columbia one protester shouted 'We are Hamas' and on April 20 others chanted: 'Al-Qasam you make us proud, kill another soldier now!' referring to Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qasam Brigades.

Photos circulated on social media showed counter-protesters waving Israeli and US flags and a pro-Palestine student standing in front of them holding a sign saying 'Al-Qasam's next targets'.

A Columbia lecturer also shared pictures of protesters' posters lionizing members of terror groups, including Walid Daqqah of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Khader Adnan, former spokesman for Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

'PIJ is holding hostages right now,' Columbia teacher Hagar Chemali wrote on X, formerly known a Twitter. 'I was stunned & horrified to see the images of these men, being extolled as though they're some kind of heroes.

'It was like a punch in the gut' he added. 'I believe that these students, while young and clearly lost, seem to know exactly who & what they're supporting.'

Protesters have said they condemn anti-semitism, and even held a Jewish passover ceremony in their Columbia camp last week.

And a week before the protests began, more than 20 Jewish faculty members at Columbia wrote a letter in the student-run Columbia Daily Spectator saying legitimate criticism of the Israeli government was being falsely labeled as 'antisemitism'.

'To argue that taking a stand against Israel's war on Gaza is antisemitic is to pervert the meaning of the term,' the teachers wrote.

But Small said Columbia protesters on April 24 were heard chanting 'Al-Qasam, Hamas, make us proud, take another soldier out', 'there's only one solution, intifada, revolution', 'We want justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground', and 'Yes Hamas, we love you, we support your rockets too'.

'I've attended events at NYU and Columbia since October 7th,' Small said. 'I saw professors and doctoral students arguing that all of Israel is occupation, that October 7 was resistance which is morally justified.'

His ISGAP report called for an investigation of SJP and its donor organizations.

'It is clear that individuals who previously worked for Hamas-linked charities are now a driving force behind AMP and hence NSJP/SJP,' the report said.

'The Department of Education (DoE) should carry out an immediate investigation into which universities are funding and/or supporting NSJP/SJP activities and instruct those universities to cease such funding and/or support.

'The Department of Justice (FBI) should open a formal investigation into American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), one of the founding organizations of NSJP/SJP, on the charge of potential material support for terrorism under 18 U.S. Code § 2339B.

'ISGAP calls for SJP (and its affiliated organizations) to be banned and for Jewish students to be protected.'

AMP’s attorney had a scathing response to ISGAP’s calls for a federal probe.

‘The Department of Justice decides for itself who presents a threat, and need not wait on a report from a purported “think tank” citing non-dispositive case allegations before it decides how to keep our country safe and who presents a threat,’ Jump told DailyMail.com. ‘AMP remains in full compliance with all applicable laws.’

Columbia University banned SJP and JVP in November. The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal have sued the university over the suspension, calling it 'unlawful'.